Telpherage system



N0.764,469. PATENTED JULY 5,1904.

- J. .11. JOHNSON.

TBLPHERAGE SYSTEM.

APPLICATION IFILED JULY 18, 1903. H0 KODEL. v 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

I v swoon 5 #wa fnanoeo I 4/4 Mr V 3% No. 764,469. PATENTED JULY 5, 1904. J; H. JOHNSON.

TELPHERAGE SYSTEM.

APPLICATION TILED JULY 18, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

I0 MODEL.

w; hm asses UNITE STATES Patented July 5, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H. JOHNSON, OF DODGEVILLE, \VISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR OF TWVO- THIRDS TO GEORGE A. LEE AND ANTON DYRESON, OF DODGE- VILLE, VVISOONSIN.

TELPHERAGE SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part bf Letters Patent No. 764,469, dated July 5, 1904.

Application filed July 18, 1903.

tion, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The object of my invention is to produce such improvements in telpherage systems as are specially adapted to supplement and facilitate rural mail delivery, whereby the carrier may despatch mail from the position of location of the ordinary letter-box to the house or residence to which the letter-box belongs with little if any more attention than is necessary to secure the deposit of mail in the usual way.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I is a vertical longitudinal section of one of my carriers and its terminal station, some of the parts being shown in elevation. Fig. II is a transverse section on the line II II of Fig. I through the carrier detached. Fig. III is a top plan view of the terminal station shown in Fig. I and a portion of the track connected therewith, the car shown in Fig. I being omitted. The buffer-rail is shown in normal position in full lines and in dotted lines in the position to which it is expanded by the passage of a car to or from the terminal station.

Fig. IV is a side elevation of the subject-matter of Fig. III.

Referring to the numerals on the drawings and selecting first for consideration the track and terminal station shown in Figs. III and IV, as well as in Fig. I in detail, 1 indicates one member of a track, and 2 the other, which are preferably made of wire of sufficient Serial No. 166,094. (No model.)

ed well above ground, and for that reason each terminal station may be carried at a pre ferred height, as upon a post 3. At suitable intervals posts 1 of a height corresponding to that of the post 3 are provided for the support of the track. Each post 4 is surmounted by by a cross-head 5, near the opposite ends of which insulating-stools 6 are fixed. I prefer to connect the track members 1 and 2, respectively, with the stools 6 by an infolding strip of sheet metal 7, overlapping and snugly confining the wire and having its ends secured to the stool, as by a bolt or pin 8. Through the employment of the overlapping strip 7 the wires may be secured in place upon the cross-heads without the use of solder and without materially obstructing upon the track the passage of the wheels of the carrier.

Each of the adjacent ends of the track members 1 and 2 is secured to stools 9, corresponding in every particular with the stools 6, previously described, but with the addition thereto of grooved contact-makers 10, provided upon opposite sides with inclined wings 11 and 12, divided by a groove 13. The stools 9 are fixed to a cross-piece 15, carried upon a a platform 16, as by aid-of a collar 17 and screw 18 (see Fig. I) upon the post 3. The platform 16 affords a suitable support for a frame 20, having eight projecting strips 21, from the extremity of each of which projects upwardly a resilient supporting member 23, which carries a buffer-rail 25, open on its side next to the track members 1 and 2 and provided above and adjacent to the said track members with yielding jaws 26 and 27. Those jaws in a normal position, as shown in full linesin Fig. II, are separated by a shorter distance than are the track members. 1 and 2, but being yielding they permit a properly-impelled carrier to pass in and out upon the track between them. 28 indicates an oblique support fastened near its opposite ends, respectively, to the cross-piece 15 and the post 3. 29 indicates brace-rods secured atone end, respectively, to the platform and at the other end to the post 3, as upon insulating-knobs 30.

Located upon the platform 16 concentrically with the buffer-rail, which is of general circular shape, is an oscillating frame 31, movable in a horizontal plane upon the screw 18 as .a vertical pivot member. Upon insulating-stools 32 and 33 are secured parallel supports 34 and 35, which when they are alined with the track members 1 and 2, to which they are correspondingly spaced, constitute a continuation of the track and serve as a switch for the carrier-in effect, the reversing mechanism thereof. The'ends of the members 3 1 and 35 are designed to engage with the grooves of the contact-makers 10, which, as has been specified, constitute the terminals of the track members 1 and 2. The member 31 is preferably provided at its opposite ends, respectively, with rods 36, which,

in the rear of the platform 16 and which may i be carried upon the adjacent supporting members 23. Through apertures in the lower part of the plate 40 are passed two flexible members or pull-cords 41 and 12, terminating at their free ends, respectively, in handles 43 and i 44 and secured at their opposite ends, respectively, as indicated at 45 and 16, to opposite I sides of the oscillating frame 31. The rods 36 serve as, supporting-guides for the pullcords 4:1 and 12, respectively, as indicated in Fig. III, and either cord serves to impart a half-revolution to the frame31. With each half-revolution of the frame 31 the opposite ends of the tracks 34 and 35, respectively,

make contact with the grooves 13 of the con' tact-makers 10, respectively. The members ment of the carrier.

3 1 and 35, therefore, in either of their oper: ative positions, to which they are brought by a pull upon one or the other of the pull-cords exerted until the rods 36 engage the stop members 37, constitute, in. effect, a movable terminal section of the track composed of the members 1 and 2. It is obvious that if an electrically-driven locomotive-carrier adapted to be propelled by energy communicated to it through contact between its wheels and the members 1 and 2 be located upon the ter minal movable track-section the movement of said section with the carries upon it will have the effect of reversing the direction of move- It is on this account that the terminal station, with its movable tracksection, is provided. indicates a buffer-carrier in a suitable bearing 51, provided for it in the buffer-plate 10. i It terminates at its innerend in a buffer: head 52 and at its outer end in a handle 53.

54 indicates a coiled spring surrounding the buffer 50, secured at one end to the inside of the plate 40 and at the other to thebufler-head 52. By such arrangement the spring 54 is adapted to yieldingly project the buffer-head toward the frame '31 and preferably midwise of and parallel to the members 34: and 35. I prefer to employ in the buffer 50 a notch 56, with which a spring-latch 57 tends at all times to engage.

58 indicates the cover of a carrier-frame 59, the latter being hung from axles 60, rotating in suitable bearings provided for them in said frame, and provided at opposite ends, respectively, with grooved wheels 61, fixed to their respective axles.

62 indicates the field-coil frame of an electric motor securely mounted in the frame 59, in which is also carried an armature-shaft 63,

whose armature 64: is rotatably mounted between the legs of the frame 62. The shaft 63 is operatively connected with one of the axles and preferably with a governor-shaft 65, also mounted in the frame 59.

66 indicates a belt which operatively unites the shaft 63 and one of the axles 60 through pulleys fixed to the said shafts, respectively,

for the accommodation of the belt 66. 67'

it will serve through operative communica tion with the armature and field-coilsof the motor to drive the shaft 63 in one direction.

'95 In a manner too If the positions of the wheels 61 last re ferred to be reversed with respect to the mem- IIO bers 1 and 2, the direction of rotation of the shaft 63 will be thereby reversed. It is to take advantage of this fact in order to ac complish the practical objects of my invention that the terminal movable track-section represented by the oscillating frame 31 is prothe shaft 65 tends to throw the weights upon the springs 71 outwardly, and thereby to throw the grooved head 73 toward the end 72 of the springs. To render this movement available for the purpose of limiting the speed of travel of the carrier, I provide a flat bar 75, fulcrumed, as indicated at 76, to the frame 59. A bifurcated end 77 of the bar 76 works within the groove of the head 7 3, straddling therein the shaft 65. A bifurcated end 78 straddles the adjacent shaft and makes lateral contact with a friction-plate 79, secured to a hub 80, fixed to said shaft. movement of the head 73 in the manner already described the end 76 of the bar75 is brought into frictional contact with the friction-plate 79, so that with the degree of force proportionate to the speed of rotation of the shaft the member 78 is forced into frictional contact with the friction-plate 79. Consequently any tendency to material increase of speed in the carrier is counteracted by the'frictionbrake mechanism above described, of which the members 78 and 79 are the frictional contact-making members and the speed of the carrier may be rendered uniform. This is important, as through it it is practicable to employ inclined as well as level track members 1 and 2. From the opposite ends of the car, respectively, I provide a buffer member 81, located and alined to impinge against the buffer-head 52 of the buffer 50.

Details of the operation of my device have been incorporated with the foregoing specification; but the operation as a whole may be briefly set forth as follows: Assuming that the members 1 and 2 are in communication with a source of electrical energyfor example, a galvanic cell or battery of ce1ls so that when they are brought into contact an electric circuit will be made through them, let it be supposed that the carrier is mounted on said members 1 and 2 and free to travel thereon. If the carrier be set, for example, upon the track members 1 and 2 in such position that its motion will tend to drive it toward the terminal station with which the tracks are provided, the operator, desiring to despatch the carrier to the terminal station, closes circuit through the members 1 and 2 and through the motor laid in circuit therewith through contact between the wheels 61 and said track members. Circuit may be closed by an ordinary key located, preferably, at the end of the track opposite to the terminal station, which in practice would be the point or place to which mail-delivery from the terminal station is to be made.

Upon closure of the circuit referred to the carrier will be driven toward the terminal station, reaching which it strikes the jaws 26 and 27 and, forcing them apart, slips gently but positively past them and makes contact with the buffer-head 52. Thereupon the circuit may be broken unless the carrier be immediately despatched upon its return'trip. The striking of the carrier against the buffer- Through the head 52 may be caused to operate an ordinary signal from the despatching endof the track or that end at which the key is located. Such signal mechanism is of simple and familiar kind and does not require more than a mere allusion, since if the distance covered by the track is short the eye of the operator can determine when the car has passed between the jaws 26 and 27.

Impact of the carrier against the bufferhead 52 should serve to force the buffer 50 to that position in which the latch 57 engages the notch 56 in the buffer and retain it in that position, as shown in Fig. I of the drawings. When the mail-carrier arrives, it is only necessary for him to deposit the mail-matter into the cover 58 and to give the shorter of the pull-cords 41 and 42 a suflicient pull to reverse the position of the frame 31. This is accomplished automatically by simply giving a sharp pull upon the handle 43 'or 44 until the respective positions of said handles are reversed. Thereupon the carrier is ready to make its return trip, which it will proceed instantly to do if the members 1 and 2 are in communication with their source of electrical energy. The starting of the carrier may be facilitated by disengaging the catch 57 from the notch 56, when the recoil-spring 54 will cause the buflfer-head 52 to act as a plunger and force the carrier past the slight resistance afforded by the jaws 26 and 27. If, on the other hand, the current be shut off from the members 1 and 2, the carrier simply remains stationary at its terminal station, like an ordinary mail-box, until at the will of the operator the current is communicated through the track members to the motor, when it will proceed upon its return trip.

What I claim is Y '1. As an improvement in telpherage systems, a terminal station consisting of a platform, a cross-piece providedwith insulatingstools and contact-makers, a reversible track continuation provided with a pair of parallel supports adapted to make contact with said contact-makers as to their opposite ends respectively, and means for operating the track continuation.

2. As an improvement in telpherage systems, a terminal station comprising a crosspiece provided with insulating-stools and contact-makers, a reversible track continuation, and a pair of pull-cords adapted to actuate the track continuation. p

3. As an improvement in telpherage systems, a terminal station comprising a crosspiece provided with insulating-stools and contact-makers, a reversible track continuation, a pair of pull-cords adapted. to actuate the track continuation, and a buffer-plate and buffer opposite the cross-piece.

4. As an improvement in telpherage systems, a terminal station comprising a crosspiece provided with insulating-stools and con tween which a carrier may be admitted to IO tact-makers, a reversible track continuation, travel upon the track continuation.

a pair of pull-cords adapted to actuate thel In testimony of all which I have hereunto track continuation, and a buffer-plate, bufier, subscribed my name.

and sp'rin -lateh.

5. As a n improvement in telpherage sys- JOHN JOHNSON terns, a, terminal station comprising a plat- Witnesses: form, insulated parallel supports thereon, and i F. P. HOCKING,

a buffer-rail provided with yielding jaws be JENNIE F. HocKING. 

